In one retrospective a colleague rebuffed a proposed action item with: “I don’t have time for that!” Wrong. We all have precisely the same amount of time. What he really was saying is that the issue was not important enough to him to make time. Which is fine. Time is often a scarce resource and …
Author Archives: Corinna Baldauf
Scrum Master Reading List – My Top 5
There is a mountain of agile books out there, all waiting to be read. On the one hand that’s exciting and something to look forward to. On the other hand that can be overwhelming and discouraging. The following is a demonstration of utmost self-restraint on my part: The 5 or less books that I recommend …
Decision Fatigue
Today my twitter stream contained a most interesting article: Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? The article is long, but worth the read! Just in case you’re short on time or too exhausted, here’s a summary: Decisions are exhausting, even small ones Especially trade-offs, which are an advanced form of decisions Unfortunately decision fatigue doesn’t …
7 Stages of Emotional Dynamics during Change
Two weeks ago some colleagues and me took part in a seminar on “Removing Impediments / Change Management”. The main point we took away is that change is all about emotions: Each change invokes emotions – positive and negative ones. The positive are accepted, while the negative are unwanted and dismissed as resistance. But you …
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Ideal (scrum) team size
When we introduced scrum we followed the conventional wisdom of having cross-functional teams with 7+/-2 members. While I’m still sold on “cross-functional”, I wouldn’t follow the 7+/-2 advice anymore. I’ve observed 5 +/- 1 as the sweet spot (dev team only; SM and PO are additional members). The big advantage is that communication and coordination …
Useful links to start TDD / BDD
Test-driven development has a lot to recommend itself: Testable code is usually well structured Specifying tests deepens the understanding of what the code is meant to achieve It makes sure tests are actually written, not omitted in the end (due to time constraints or “Why test? It works!”) Unfortunately it’s not as easy as it …
Wanted: (Agile) Coaching Circle
“Practice makes perfect” they say. I guess, self-reflection and reading can only get you so far. That’s why I’d like to join or found a coaching circle, i.e. a regular meeting (at least monthly) to safely try out new techniques and work through tough situations. Some ideas for activities: Have Agile Coaching Dojos Work through …
Change through regularity
The title is not as contradictory as it may seem: Agile and scrum stress the need to be flexible, to change and adapt. But let’s not forget that there’s also merit in the steady, the regular, the predictable. Humans are creatures of habit and I’ve found that the chances of successfully changing behavior increase if …
Scrum Master Creed
Two weeks ago I resigned as scrum master and will soon go back to just doing UX. Ironically I’m not resigning because I don’t care about agile anymore but rather that I care too much. .oO(Does that make sense to anyone but me?) Anyway, I’d like to share with you my vision of “scrum master-dom”, …
Places for information radiators
Big visible charts are a great way to convey information. The more visible something is, the less likely you are to forget or disregard it. This week we tried a new location, when we needed additional maintainers for a handful of systems: Right next to the rest rooms (the door slightly ajar is the Gents). …